Small commercial space leases—for offices, retail locations, warehouses—are unlike big leases. Tenants are much more sensitive to the costs of reviewing or drafting and negotiating lengthy leases. Tenant use restrictions in lengthier leases tend to suffocate the ability of smaller tenants to operate their businesses. Landlord rights and remedies in “short form” leases tend to leave tenants with little flexibility and few remedies against landlords. At the same time, landlords fear the instability and costs associated with small tenants. This underscores the importance of focusing on the economic essentials important to landlords and the operating essentials important to tenants in small leases. This program provides you with a real-world guide to drafting or reviewing a small commercial lease, including economics, use restrictions, subleasing, and remedies.

Speaker: Mark A. Senn is a partner in the Denver law firm of Senn Visciano Canges PC, where he has an extensive national real estate practice, including commercial leasing, purchases and sales, title cases, condominiums, loan and workout transactions, and mezzanine financing transactions. He is the author of Commercial Real Estate Leases: Preparation, Negotiation and Forms (3d ed.) and Commercial Real Estate Transactions Handbook (3d ed.), both published by Aspen Law & Business. He is a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers Board of Governors and the newsletter Commercial Lease Law Insider Board of Advisors.